10 Things You Learn Re-Watching The First Ever Episode Of Raw Is War

10. War Zone

Rarely does WWE hit a home-run with a first swing, but the opening credits to the revamped Raw were absolutely sensational.

Soundtracked to Marilyn Manson's 'Beautiful People' (before licensing costs required a change to the equally outstanding in-house Thorn In Your Eye/All Together Now recordings for the show), the sight of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ahmed Johnson and others marching into an abandoned warehouse for an apocalyptic brawl was jaw-dropping, and actually still tonally ahead of the product in March 1997.

Emblematic of the rise of 'The Rattlesnake' in particular in late-97, the credits opened the show with a frantic angst, revelling in the sense of anarchy gradually engulfing the main event combinations in the run-up to WrestleMania 13.

As Austin, Ahmed, Bret Hart, Sycho Sid, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels traded blows in a ring literally on fire whilst bombs exploded in the background, WWE finally seemed to acknowledge the war they were comfortably losing, with the release of huge missiles symbolically denoting a long-awaited genuine fightback against WCW.

Authored by Michael Hamflett

Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.

First Posted On: 14th Mar 2017

In this post:

WWE Raw